Seamless bra

ABSTRACT

A garment, e.g. a bra, for sport related activities made of a single layer knitted seamless fabric. The garment is a circular knitted tube, with defined front and back sides. The garment has molded cup portions formed in the garment front to fit over a wearer&#39;s breast. The cup portions formed by molding application that shapes the cup portion to accommodate a wearers&#39; breast. Reinforcing tapes bond to the inner surface of the garment front to support the breast at one or more portions. The reinforcing tapes bonded to one or more of an upper part of the cup portion, above the cup portion, below the cup portion, lateral to the cup portion or any combination thereof. The reinforcing tapes have lower elasticity than fabric they are bonded to. The reinforcing tapes are typically bonded by an adhesive to the fabric, i.e. the reinforcing tapes being single-sided adhesive films.

TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD

The present disclosure is in the field of garments for being used in sports, in particular high-impact sport bras.

BACKGROUND ART

References considered to be relevant as background to the presently disclosed subject matter are listed below:

-   -   US 2016/227846     -   US 2017/119063

Acknowledgement of the above references herein is not to be inferred as meaning that these are in any way relevant to the patentability of the presently disclosed subject matter.

BACKGROUND

There is a need for bras that are light-weight and capable of holding the wearer's breast in place during activities, e.g. sport activities. These kind of bras give the wearer a comfort feeling and eliminate unwanted moves of the breast. Due to little/or no options of this type of bra, there is a need for an innovative bra that provides the need.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure discloses a garment, e.g. a bra, to be used in sport related activities. The garment is made of a single layer knitted seamless fabric. The garment is a circular knitted tube, with defined front and back sides.

The garment has molded cup portions formed in the front of the garment that are configured to fit over a wearer's breast. The cup portions are formed by molding application that shapes the cup portion to accommodate a wearers' breast. The sections above and below the cup area are supportive in order to hold the garment tight without compromising on comfort.

Reinforcing tapes are bonded to the inner surface of the front of the garment to provide support to the breast at one or more portions. The inner surface of the garment faces the wearer's body and the outer surface faces away from the wearer's body.

The reinforcing tapes are bonded to at least one of the following: (i) an upper part of the cup portion, (ii) above the cup portion, (iii) below the cup portion, (iv) lateral to the cup portion or any combination thereof. The reinforcing tapes have lower elasticity than that of the fabric they are bonded to. The reinforcing tapes are typically bonded by an adhesive to the fabric, i.e. the reinforcing tapes are being single-sided adhesive films.

The seamless garment may be knitted so that different portions thereof have different elasticity properties. Portions that are knitted denser than others have lower elasticity properties. For example, fabric portions below and above the cup portions are less elastic than the fabric of the cup portion to minimize the breast movement. The combination of a knitted seamless fabric having different fabric elasticity properties at different portions of the garment with reinforcing tapes bonded at the surrounding of the cup portions and/or at portions thereof, provides a seamless active bra. The addition of bonded reinforcing tapes to several portions of the inner surface of the garment renders the support level of the garment higher than similar garments that do not have the reinforcing tapes. This allows to obtain relatively light bras with respect to bras having a similar level of support, which are heavier (e.g. due to additional layers).

An aspect of the present disclosure provides a garment that includes a garment front and a garment back, two breast cup portions defined in the garment front, and a bottom support portion positioned below the breast cup portion for tight fitting over a wearer's belly. The bottom support portion is the lowest portion of the garment, when is worn by a subject, and is configured to encircle the wearer's torso. The garment is formed of a single layer of a seamless circular knitted fabric, e.g. a knitted circular tube. One or more reinforcing tapes are attached to the inner fabric surface above the cup portion and/or at an upper part thereof made of a second fabric, different than the first fabric. The second fabric has a lower elasticity than the fabric portion to which it is attached.

In some embodiments, the second fabric has a lower elasticity than any portion of the first fabric.

In some embodiments, the reinforcing tapes reduce the elasticity of the portions of the garment to which they are bonded or attached to.

In some embodiments, the garment includes shoulder straps extending at a top end of the garment between the garment front and the garment back for fitting over the shoulders of the wearer. The shoulder straps are integral with the first fabric. In some embodiments, the shoulder straps are bonded to the first fabric and made of a shoulder-strap fabric being the same or of a different fabric than the first fabric.

In some embodiments, the garment being a high-impact brassiere.

In some embodiments, the garment has portions with different elastic properties than those of other garment portions. In other words, the garment includes portions that has lower elasticity than others to provide support and avoid unwanted movement of the breast.

In some embodiments, the garment includes one or more portions that are characterized by integral knitted ribs, and/or an integral knitted mesh, and/or pique weaving or any other integral knitted texture.

In some embodiments of the garment, a reinforcing tape is attached to the inner fabric surface below the cup portion and/or at a bottom part thereof. The reinforcing tape is made of a third fabric and having a lower elasticity than the fabric portion to which it is attached, and being the same or different than the second fabric.

In some embodiments of the garment, the cup portions are formed by molding application.

In some embodiments of the garment, the inner surface of the cup portion is lined with an opaque fabric.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to better understand the subject matter that is disclosed herein and to exemplify how it may be carried out in practice, embodiments will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1A-1B are schematic illustration of non-limiting example of a front and back view, respectively, of the outer surface of a single-layer seamless garment according to the present disclosure.

FIGS. 2A-2B are schematic illustrations of non-limiting example of a front and back view, respectively, of the inner surface of a single-layer seamless garment of FIGS. 1A-1B.

FIGS. 3A-3B are schematic illustrations of another non-limiting example of a front and back view, respectively, of the outer surface of a single-layer seamless garment according to the present disclosure.

FIGS. 4A-4B are schematic illustrations of non-limiting example of a front and back view, respectively, of the inner surface of a single-layer seamless garment of FIGS. 3A-3B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The following figures are provided to exemplify embodiments and realization of the invention of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 1A-1B are schematic illustration of non-limiting example of a front and back view, respectively, of the outer surface of a single-layer seamless garment 100 according to the present disclosure. FIG. 1A shows the outer surface of a garment front 102 that includes two cup, breast, portions 104 formed by molding process. The garment front 102 is characterized by different portions having different elasticity properties, obtained by different knitting configuration. Portions of high-density knitting are less elastic than portions of low-density knitting. Therefore, the denser the knitting, the less elastic the portion of the garment.

The present disclosure provides examples of uses of different knitting textures that results in different properties in the garment—mesh, pique and rib. mesh is a texture that is mainly used for ventilation as it so called “opens up” the fabric; pique is a knitting selection for support the is characterized by smooth surface; and rib is another selection that provides strong support but has a vertical line or diagonal appearance.

The cup portions 104 and the shoulder straps part 108, which includes the shoulder straps 110 and a portion of fabric 112 that links the shoulder straps one to the other, are formed of pique knitting configuration/texture. A middle part 114 of the garment front 102 links between the cup portions 104 and the shoulder straps part 108 and is formed of two types of knitting configurations, a diagonal rib configuration 115 sandwiched between two similar pique configurations 117. The elasticity of the pique configuration 117 of the middle part 114 is lower than that of the cup portions 104 and higher than that of the shoulder straps part 108. The diagonal rib configuration 115 of the middle part 114 is more elastic than the pique configuration 117 of the middle part. This formation of the middle part 114 is configured to avoid puckering between different textures. In particular, the intermediate elasticity of the pique configuration 117 of the middle part 114 provides puckering-free formation between the different textures. The cup portions 104 are adjacent to a side-supporting parts 116 configured for supporting the breast from both sides and is formed of a rib configuration, which has less elasticity than the cup portions 104. Adjacent to the side-supporting parts 116 from the other side of the cup portions 104 is a bottom-supporting parts 118 that is configured for supporting the breast from below and is formed of a diagonal rib configuration that is less elastic than that of the side-supporting parts 116.

A bottom supporting portion 120 is located at the bottom of the garment 100, below the two cup portions 104, and is configured to sit tight on a belly of a subject when the garment is worn. The bottom supporting portion 120 is formed of different sub-portions 121A, 121B, 121C of different elasticities and the elasticity decreases towards the center of the garment front 102, namely the elasticity decreases towards the middle part 114 between the two cup portions 104.

FIG. 1B shows the garment back 122, which has a generally similar formation as the garment front 102. The garment back 122 formation differs from the garment front 102 in the middle part 114′. The middle part 114′ of the garment back 122 includes ventilation parts 117′ formed of a diagonal mesh that is adjacent to the extension of the cup portions 104 in replace of the pique configuration 117 of the middle part 114 of the garment front 102. The ventilation parts 117′ are characterized by improved gasses heat exchange with respect to other portions or parts of the garment 100.

In the figures throughout the application, like elements of different figures were given similar reference numerals shifted by the number of hundreds corresponding to the number of the respective figure. For example, element 204 in FIGS. 2A-2B serves the same function as element 104 in FIGS. 1A-1B.

FIGS. 2A-2B are schematic illustrations of non-limiting example of a front and back view, respectively, of the inner surface of a single-layer seamless garment 100 of FIGS. 1A-1B. Reinforcing tapes are bonded to different portions of the inner surface of the garment to provide extra support for obtaining an additional support. The reinforcing tapes are single-sided adhesive films and are formed of a fabric that is less elastic than any other fabric that they are bonded to. In some embodiments, the reinforcing tapes are less elastic than any other fabric of the garment. Upper-breast reinforcing tape 224 is bonded along the inner cup portions 204 and the inner middle part 214, as can be seen in FIG. 2A. The upper-breast reinforcing tape 226 extends between an edge of a first side 228 of the inner garment front 202 and an edge of a second side of the inner garment front 202, i.e. between one armpit section to the other. The upper-breast reinforcing tape 224 is formed of two arches that meet at the inner middle part 214, each is shaped to match the upper breast shape. A Bottom-support reinforcing tape 230 is bonded along the inner side-supporting part 216 and the inner bottom-supporting part 218 to hold and lift the breast from inside and minimize un-wanted breast movements.

Additional edges-reinforcing tapes 232 are bonded to the edges 226, 228 and 232 of the garment 200.

In some embodiments, the strap shoulders of the garment may include zero seams bartack for additional reinforcement.

FIGS. 3A-3B are schematic illustrations of another non-limiting example of a front and back view, respectively, of the outer surface of a single-layer seamless garment 300 according to the present disclosure. In this example, the garment 300 differs from that exemplified in FIGS. 1A-1B by that the bottom supporting portion 320 includes a garment fastening mechanism 334, e.g. Back Hook and eye for allowing the garment to be worn easily. Furthermore, in this example, the shoulder straps 310 are linked directly to a portion at the garment back 322 that matches to the cup portion 304 in terms of fabric configuration.

The shoulder straps 310 are separately made and are bonded to the garment 300 through a bartack bonding.

FIGS. 4A-4B are schematic illustrations of non-limiting example of a front and back view, respectively, of the inner surface of a single-layer seamless garment 300 of FIGS. 3A-3B. Upper-breast reinforcing tape 424 is bonded to the inner surface of the garment front 402, positioned above the inner cup portions 404. In addition, bottom-support reinforcing tape 430 is bonded along the inner side-supporting part 416 and the inner bottom-supporting part 418 to hold and lift the breast from inside and minimize un-wanted breast movements. Opaque panels 340 are bonded to the inner cup portions 404 to provide an opaque look of the cup portions 404. 

1. A garment comprising: a garment front and a garment back, two breast cup portions defined in the garment front, and a bottom support portion positioned below the breast cup portion for tight fitting over a wearer's chest or belly; wherein the garment being formed of a single layer, knitted seamless first fabric having an outer and an inner surface, and wherein attached to the inner fabric surface above the cup portion and/or at an upper part thereof is at least one reinforcing tape made of a second fabric, different than the first fabric, that has a lower elasticity than the fabric portion to which it is attached.
 2. The garment of claim 1, comprising shoulder straps extending at a top end of the garment between the garment front and the garment back for fitting over shoulders of a wearer being integral with the first fabric, or being made of a shoulder-strap fabric being the same or of a different than the first fabric and bonded to the first fabric.
 3. The garment of claim 1, wherein the reinforcing tapes reduce the elasticity of the portions of the garment to which they are attached to.
 4. The garment of claim 1, being a high-impact brassiere.
 5. The garment of claim 1, having portions with different elastic properties than those of other garment portions.
 6. The support garment of claim 1, having one or more of portions having integral knitted ribs, portions having an integral knitted mesh, and pique portions.
 7. The garment of claim 1, wherein attached to the inner fabric surface below the cup portion and/or at a bottom part thereof is a reinforcing tape made of a third fabric, having a lower elasticity than the fabric portion to which it is attached, and being the same or different than the second fabric.
 8. The garment of claim 1, wherein the cup portions are formed by molding.
 9. The garment of claim 1, wherein the inner surface of the cup portion is lined with an opaque fabric.
 10. The garment of claim 1, wherein the garment is being formed of a seamless circular knitted first fabric.
 11. The garment of claim 10, wherein the garment is being formed of a knitted circular tube of the first fabric. 